


Stuck In Reverse

by LokiAndBaneGal



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel, Marvel 616, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bucky Barnes & Tony Stark Friendship, Bucky Barnes Angst, Bucky Barnes Feels, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Bucky Barnes Recovering, Bucky Barnes Returns, Bucky Barnes's Metal Arm, Bucky Barnes-centric, Canon Divergence - Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Gen, Minor Violence, Natasha Romanov Is Not A Robot, Oblivious Steve Rogers, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Protective Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov Friendship, Steve Rogers & Tony Stark Friendship, Steve Rogers Feels, Tony Stark Does What He Wants, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-25
Updated: 2016-09-25
Packaged: 2018-08-17 04:13:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8130022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LokiAndBaneGal/pseuds/LokiAndBaneGal
Summary: Of course, he doesn't really remember all of that. He remembers bits and pieces, fragmented memories played out of sequence and blurred.AU sort of. While Bucky is in Bucharest, he is having issues with his arm. He goes to Tony to ask for help. From this prompt: Bucky manages to avoid being found until one night, with no warning, he shows up in Tony's kitchen. Tony is understandably kind of alarmed when he finds an assassin sitting at his table, but Bucky just kind of holds his arm out toward Tony and very quietly tells him, "I don't know how to fix it myself."





	

**Author's Note:**

> The prompt was given on tumblr by canis-familiaris. And posted on instagram by stucky.on.you. I posted in the comments that I want to write fic to that. And a whole month later, six and a half pages came out of me. Enjoy! And please let me know what you think. This is unbeta'd. But I think I did ok. 
> 
> Title taken from "Fix You" by Coldplay because the song reminds me of Bucky in Bucharest all alone. Enjoy!

~Bucharest 2016~

Bucky had a found a place that felt like his home. Nothing like his home back in Brooklyn. Not at all. No mother or father. No sisters or brother there to make him laugh or feel needed. It was just him.

Just him alone with his thoughts. No one there he could confide in. No one else... Not even Steve.

Steven Grant Rogers isn’t just his best friend for the last century. He isn’t just his comrade, his Captain…

Steve _was_ home. Steve was a dream that Bucky never woke up from. He had found someone more loyal than himself. Which meant Steve was the guy you don’t leave behind. You protect him and always look out for him.

When his mother dies and he is left an orphan, you offer him a place to stay with your family. You make him feel needed. You let him know you’re with him ‘ _til the end of the line, pal_.

Of course, he doesn't really remember all of that. He remembers bits and pieces, fragmented memories played out of sequence and blurred.

He can't easily remember the "good life". He remembers the broken bones, the bloody noses, the smell. Oh God the smell, of dead decaying corpses. The people that the Winter Soldier killed. He remembers all of them.

His nightmares make sure to keep themselves busy with blue eyes here, deafening screams there, sorrow and sadness everywhere. Even on the night he finally had the courage to visit the museum exhibit of the man on the bridge. He knew him. He called him _Bucky_. He didn’t call him _Soldier_ or _The Asset_.

As much as the nightmares keep him from blissful sleep, he can’t forget his face. Steve. Watching their smiling faces in black and white. Steve in uniform, and himself in a disheveled but not unkempt form-fitting outfit. They were laughing like there wasn’t a war going to separate them and change them forever…

He had kept up with the some of the news from the last year or so. More correctly, searching and following Avengers-related news. He’d seen they fought some sentient robot, the name foreign but intimidating. He’d seen the damage done to Sokovia and the horror in some part of Africa he hasn’t even heard of. Reading everything from Huffington Post to random blog entries, he feels as though he could relate to these people. Fighting the good fight. Well, when he wasn’t being controlled by an organization whose sole purpose was to bring down people like the Avengers.

In all his “research”, he noted Tony Stark as being at the forefront of the team. A brilliant engineer who graduated MIT at age 15. A man who went from being a weapons dealer to philanthropist after suffering through torture under a corrupt group who wanted him to build weapons for them. But Tony was too smart for them. He didn’t make a weapon. Well, not a weapon for them anyway.

He built the Mark I Iron Man suit. Powered by the very design of what was powering his lab back home. And now, powering his own body. And Bucky was…impressed to say the least.

Being away from Hydra so long meant no routine maintenance on his left arm. And Bucharest was not, in his experience, well known for their cybernetic arm repair. It would hum and freeze and he’d grown tired of the appendage giving him trouble more and more.

So against his better judgement, he gets an idea. A stupid idea, he keeps telling himself. That maybe he can get to Stark without Steve knowing. He doesn’t want a reunion just yet. He can barely move around his little apartment without knocking something over or accidentally crushing a piece of furniture when he moves his arm. He’d hate to have that as a memory of the next time he saw Steve. He wanted to just…not be broken anymore. Mentally. And physically.

 _So he goes back to Brooklyn_. Under the radar of course. He doesn’t remember where his old place is. Or Steve’s. But he knows the Avengers tower, formerly Stark Tower, is nearby. He stands in front of it for what seems like a century before he thinks better of himself and gets the hell away from that place before he causes a damn scene.

Then through some tactics he isn’t proud of using, he finds out there is a secret base out in the middle of nowhere. A new Avengers team is training there. He doesn’t know most of them, if any of them.

He finds the base at night. From the forest just before it, he can see through the mostly glass building. Two men sparring in a gym. A woman and android levitating and moving around nearby. A woman and man leaning against one of the large glass windows close enough to be having an intimate discussion. The man turns and looks out the window. And Bucky sees him.

It’s Steve. The man on the bridge. His link to the past. But Steve looks right back at the woman and continues talking. Not noticing Bucky at all under the cover of night. He barely has time to hide when he hears tires on the gravel road coming straight for him. He’s laid out on the forest floor on his stomach watching as the expensive looking car drives right past him and up towards the facility.

He gets up on his haunches when the car stops out front. A man gets out, rubs the hood of the car smiling at it, then locks it with that annoying beep noise that Bucky really has come to hate. He can see the man as he rounds the car to admire it.

It’s Stark! He’s found him!

He watches as Steve and the woman notice Stark and come out of the front doors to greet him. The woman gives Stark a friendly hug and so does Steve. He watches Stark round the car and open the trunk pulling out a large box and handing it over to Steve. Then Stark proceeds to take out a large piece of rolled up paper from the box and open it across the hood of the car. And pointing at different spots. He can barely hear the exchange but he can make out bits and pieces.

It all comes in fits and starts and stops when he’s focusing on faces and lips and straining to make his ears work harder.

_Bucky…I don't think he would…not when he knows they're after him, Stark…you serious?...just go back to the tower ok?...if we hear anything…thanks for these…be careful._

He sees Stark fold what Bucky realizes is a map and put it back in the box, pat Steve on the shoulder and do the same to the woman before starting the car and driving away.

Bucky decides to head back to the tower and try and talk to Stark.

He makes his way back to the tower and finds Stark leaving through the front doors and getting back to his car before driving two blocks down the road to a brownstone, mild and unsuspecting. _A billionaire lives here?_

He sees Stark exit the car and fumble around with a couple boxes and trying to get a key out of his pocket to open the front door. Bucky takes to the side street and hides out behind Stark’s place. In the backyard right under the kitchen window. He hasn’t heard Stark enter the house yet so he goes to the back door and kicks the knob in. He surveys the kitchen. Basic enough but with high tech fridge, cabinets and appliances.

He sets his eyes on a picture in a beautiful frame on the kitchen table out of view of where Stark is walking in the front door. He doesn’t even register the footsteps walking towards the kitchen until he hears boxes drop and crash to the floor. He whips his head up to see Tony with a gauntlet prepared to fire at Bucky.

“The fuck are you? You’re in my—Barnes?” Tony goes from 100 to 0 so fast he almost accidentally fires at Bucky.

“Stark.” Bucky simply says, eyes calm but his hands are shaking holding the picture frame.

“Put it down, please. That’s the only picture of my parents that I have. I…need it.” Stark pushes the gauntlet off his hand and throws it in one of the boxes before taking a hesitant step forward.

“Your parents?!” Bucky tries to control the memory creeping back up in the forefront of his mind but its hurts to see two of the people The Asset killed. With their young child, smiling away, not knowing their fate.

“Yeah, Howard and Maria Stark. Mom and Dad. The ‘rents.” Tony says trying to seem nonchalant about seeing a man who is truly and definitely out of time.

“I shouldn't have come, I…didn’t mean to…I…” Bucky trails off and sets the photo down with shaky hands and his metal arm decides the freeze at that moment slightly cracking the frame in his horror.

“Are…are you ok? Steve told me about the arm and I’ve seen pictures but I didn’t expect it to not live up the hype that bad…” Tony again tries to make it seem like this is a normal occurrence in any way.

“I need help. My arm keeps…” He takes a deep breath and looks into Stark’s eyes. “It keeps malfunctioning and I thought you could help me. But I have to know you wont call…Steve…or anyone who may be looking for me because that would be a bad idea.”

"Sounds like a threat, Barnes. Threats don’t help anybody get _anything_ after a breaking and entering most of the time. Just as a heads up.” Tony steps back slowly and grabs a glass out of the cabinet and grabs a bottle of brown liquid and pours it in. “And since the people looking for you would also like to get to me too, I won't be doing that. But…” He takes a sip from his glass and sets it on the counter next to him. “…why don’t you want to see Cap? He’s like you're bestie, I thought.”

Bucky can feel Tony’s eyes on him before he even looks up. “Look, I know he’s also looking for me but I’m not gonna try and see him when I can barely touch something without breaking it.” As a demonstration, he picks up Stark’s glass with the liquid and holds it for a moment before his hand clamps on it, of its own accord, and crushes it into pieces around his fist, booze spilling all over the counter.

“You just ruined a perfect glass full of perfect Lagavulin.” Tony grabs a towel from a drawer and scoops up the broken glass shards and drying up the spill before tossing the towel in the trash.

By the time Tony turns back around, Bucky is sat at his kitchen table looking at his arm in disgust. He holds it out for Tony to see. “I don’t know how to fix it myself.”

Tony may not be the most emotional or sentimental person in the world. But he’s seen the look on Steve’s face when he talks about Bucky. The Bucky that took care of him when he was sick, the Bucky that was aways proud of him, the Bucky that stabbed him and shot him. That was the same man. Broken but important. And Tony could understand that more than anything.

He nodded and walked over to Bucky and set his glasses aside on the counter as he made his way over. He motioned for Bucky to take his jacket off and he did. He studied the metal arm and it whirred and hummed in his hand and was hot to the touch. “I’m gonna need my tools. Come to the basement, but not before you shut my damn back door.” Tony walked over to the side of the fridge and opened the door just there and walked down a set of steps.

Bucky couldn’t believe he found Stark. Couldn’t believe he agreed to help him. He slid the door closed and realized he kicked he knob off so it would most certainly not stay closed. He moved a chair in front of the door and decided that should hold it and walked over to enter the basement.

And what a basement it was. Stark moved what looked like an entire lab into the space. He could see monitors and parts everywhere. Things all over the place. He would think it was kind of a mess but still be in awe, knowing Stark probably knew where everything was at all times.

“Over here, Barnes.” Tony’s head popped up over a computer screen and Bucky navigated the cluttered floor over to him. “Just to make things even more awkward between us, I’m gonna need you to take off your shirt.” He nervously chuckled and Barnes tried his best attempt at a smile and nod. It wasn't awful much…

“I gotta say, even though I know what you went through to get this, it really is impressive.” Tony said, manipulating Bucky’s arm in different positions to watch how the metal moved like a human arm.

“Yeah, Hydra likes to make sure all of it's weapons are outfitted with their own weapons.” Bucky’s sad smile wasn’t missed by Tony at all.

“Ok enough talking. Got it.” Tony set about with his tools to open the arm and look at the work ahead of him. “I know I said no talking but please let me know if any of this hurts, alright?” He looked into Bucky’s eyes with questioning brows.

Bucky nodded and said nothing. So Tony went to work. He took an inventory of where every wire and plate connected to. His eye caught a frayed set of wires and he touched them and sparks flew out instantly, the arm seized and Bucky yelped. “We found our problem then. Sorry about that.” Tony looked up to Bucky and genuinely smiled and Bucky relaxed.

Tony separated the wires from the arm and analyzed them, checking to see what he could salvage and what he’d need to replace. He set about going around the lab picking up tools and pieces and muttering to himself. “Oh definitely need that one. Don’t think we could do this without that. Where the hell is that soldering gun?” Bucky was actually amused by the genius in his natural state.

“Alright Barnes, we’re gonna get you fixed up. But I wouldn’t be a good friend to Steve if I didn’t suggest that after this is done…” He set about connecting and fusing wires while Bucky shifted in his seat waiting for the next words. “…you need to go see him. Even if its just for five minutes, just… You need to let him know you’re ok and that those commies or whatever didn’t get you again. I’m not saying the H word anymore tonight.” He doesn’t make eye contact with Bucky to save himself the embarrassment of wanting to help Steve be complete, if only to shut him up really.

“Let’s say we finish this and then…we can talk about opening up _that_ can of worms, deal?” Bucky looked up at Tony with pleading eyes and Tony chewed the inside of his cheek and shrugged and went back to work.

A couple hours and a shocking incident later, Tony sealed up the arm and motioned for Bucky to try it out. Bucky stood up and extended his fingers and pulled them into a fist quickly, squeezing his eyes tight and waiting for the arm to seize up. When it didn’t happen, he looked up at Tony and smiled for the first time in a while that didn’t feel forced.

“Genius, remember?” Tony winked at him and set about cleaning up his work station. When he was finished, he turned around and Bucky was pulling his shirt back on and moving his arm about in awe.

He waved for Bucky to come back upstairs. When they were back in the kitchen, Bucky stood there looking at his hand like it was the best thing in the world. Tony smiled at the image in front of him then turned around to pour himself another glass of whiskey. He was midway through pouring when he heard Bucky speak.

“Thank you.”

“You can thank me by going to see Steve. As scary as it may be, he needs it. You need it too, I’m sure. Just think about it ok? Think about how much he annoys me talking about when you two used to go to Coney Island or whatever…” Tony decided to stop turning everything into a bother and just shut up and drink his whiskey.

Bucky nodded even though Tony couldn’t see behind his drink. “I’ll think about it. It’s gonna take me a while to…I don’t know. Like I said, can of worms. Last time I saw him, I was dragging him out of the Potomac, he fell out of the damn…I hurt him and he still wants to see me. I…you can see how that’s…strange right?” Bucky shook his head and looked down at his boots.

“When I first met Steve, I hated him. Hated him since I was a kid and my dad told me stories about working with Captain America. About his friend, James. And about how scared he was that he wouldn't ever find him searching the ocean after his plane went down. He never found him, you see? But SHIELD did. The organization my father helped found. And he was this larger than life person. In my head, I thought we are gonna kill each other, ya know? We sorta almost did for a second.” Tony chuckled and scratched his neck.

“But we didn’t because we had a world to save. And we’ve done it a couple times now. Put our differences aside for the greater good. His idea, not mine. So…what I’m getting at here is that, even though you have a hell of a lot more danger at every turn…you need to know that Steve took down SHIELD for you. He took it down because of you. You matter to him and I wouldn’t be a good friend if I didn’t sell it to you like that.” Tony took another sip of his drink and looked back to Bucky who seemed to be deep in thought.

Bucky walked up to him and reached out his flesh and blood hand to Tony. Tony shook his hand and smirked. Bucky walked over to the back door and moved the chair out of the way before taking one last glance to the family photo. He saw Howard’s eyes and Maria’s smile. He runs a hand through his hair to bring his attention elsewhere.

“Thanks, Stark.” He says with one foot out of the house. “And I sorta broke your knob so use your engineering skills on this now. I’m sure it’ll tell you if it hurts.” And with that, Bucky left out of the back of the house and made it around the corner before Tony could come chasing after him.

Bucky made his way back to Bucharest. Without seeing Steve or anyone else who may be after him. He tests out his arm on some concrete blocks outside of his building and decided Stark did a good enough job.

He makes it back to his apartment and sits on his couch and decompresses. He runs a hand through his hair and stares at the ceiling. He makes a mental note that he should definitely not ever think about leaving here again. It’s dangerous out there for an ex-assassin these days.

But then again, who really listens to mental notes?

**Author's Note:**

> I guess this was just a test for myself to see if I still could write. All I know is this 6 1/2 page story took two hours and I love it. 
> 
> ~Elle


End file.
